Leadership void all too evident in Syria crisis

There have been trying times when men of foresight, faith and conviction have helped us to transcend the frailty of our human condition and to soar mightily as if we were gods.

This moment in time would seem tailor-made for the appearance of such a person.

The civil war in Syria, in which that country's brutal leader, Bashar al-Assad, is beset by opponents who are just as brutal, cries out for someone to show us with clarity, charity and certainty what should be done for the good of country and the world.

But what we are getting is a drunken lurch into paralysis.

We don't like Assad, but we don't trust the opponents. We want to intervene militarily, but not because about 100,000 have been killed by conventional means, or that some 7 million have been displaced. It is not even because 1,400 were killed by chemical weapons, but because we had promised that we would take action if chemical weapons were used.

We want to punish Assad, but we don't want to degrade him to the point that his opponents gain the upper hand. So, before we even strike militarily, we know that our action would escalate rather than stop the killing or the displacement of innocent civilians.

Like me, most Americans, still in a daze from the shock and awe of the lies the Bush administration dropped on us on its way to making war in Iraq, believe it makes no sense to act militarily if it does nothing to ease the humanitarian crises in the country.

Like me, most Americans would be open to a persuasive argument to the contrary, but all we are getting is self-righteous pomposity masquerading as reasoned argument.

The words of Sen. Marco Rubio, a tea party darling whose potential presidential run in 2016 would be severely damaged if he agreed with President Obama on anything, aptly showcased the paralysis of reason that has infected Congress these past several years.

In a Senate debate on the issue, first he declared the crisis is the making of the president, who he believes should have acted long before now. Then he made the argument that the use of chemical weapons has undermined "post-World War II world order, which basically said that these things were unacceptable and allies who look at the United States and our capabilities of living up to our security promises are at risk now because of all of this."

He then said removing Assad would be the ideal action to take, but that such a move would create untenable complications, including possibly making way for a new terrorist regime. But doing nothing would, he said, embolden Assad and other rogue nations. However, the limited strike being proposed by the president is not sufficient, he said, in voting not to authorize the president's action.

At least he voted.

Massachusetts' newest senator, Edward Markey, couldn't pull the trigger on whether to support the president. He apparently wanted more information, including knowing how Russia would react to a U.S. strike on Syria.

But this is where we are today, politicians playing politics.

Great men and women are forged by the righteousness of their causes, and while this moment in time is rife with worthy causes, the ones draining our energies and resources are often manipulated to serve the designs of a few.

That is why it is unlikely that an Abraham Lincoln, a Winston Churchill or a Martin Luther King Jr, will soon emerge to guide us through these turbulent times.

That is why, in my view, the Senate and House debates on whether the country should take military action against Syria rang with such hollowness, and even cowardice.

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